∎ Libro Gratis The Sound of Freedom Heroes Quartet Kathy Kacer 9781554519699 Books

The Sound of Freedom Heroes Quartet Kathy Kacer 9781554519699 Books

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The Sound of Freedom Heroes Quartet Kathy Kacer 9781554519699 Books

The Sound of Freedom by Kathy Kacer is a middle-grade novel about a Jewish family in Krakow, Poland in 1936. Life has become increasingly dangerous, as the violence and persecution of Jews increase. Anna is afraid if they don’t escape soon, something really bad will happen. Her father is a talented clarinetist in the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. They hear that Bronislaw Huberman is auditioning Jewish musicians from all over Europe for a new orchestra in Palestine. If her father auditions and is accepted, she and her grandmother can leave Poland with her father for a new life in Palestine. 

Stories of Jews in the Holocaust have fascinated me since I was a kid. The first book about the Holocaust I read was Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, then later A Diary of Anne Frank, and many more.  My interest in the Holocaust is why I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley.

The Sound of Freedom is an introduction to the beginning of the Holocaust for middle-grade students. The story is told through the eyes of Anna, focusing on the growing anti-Semitism she sees going on around her and that eventually happens to her. It is set in 1936, before Germany’s invasion of Poland and as Hitler is rising in power, so the real horrors of the Holocaust have not yet started.

While the story of Anna’s family is fiction, Bronislaw Huberman really was a world-renown violinist and did create the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra to save over a thousand Jews by recruiting them for the newly formed orchestra. Anna’s story is representative of the lives saved by Bronislaw Huberman.

While the story is for middle-grade student, it tells the harsh reality of the what was happening.  Readers will be faced with the problems and issues of the era. Some of the families leave the orchestra to go back to their homeland, and Anna is concerned for their safety and the reader is left to wonder what happened to them. The story also mentions the tensions between the Arabs and the Jewish peoples in Palestine. Anna's family may have escaped Poland, but they are faced with issues in Palestine.

I give the story 4.5 stars. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the time-period. The Sound of Freedom would make an excellent addition to a Holocaust study.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Annick Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


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The Sound of Freedom Heroes Quartet Kathy Kacer 9781554519699 Books Reviews

In The Sound of Freedom, we learn of Anna, a 12-year-old Jewish girl in Krakow, Poland, as Hitler is in power in Germany and Nazism is spreading throughout Europe. She lives with her widowed father and her grandmother.

Anna witnesses changes in her city classmates singling out Jews to harass, her musician father sitting in the "ghetto seats" off to the side from the rest of the orchestra, the Jewish shopkeeper having his business vandalized and he himself is later beaten while others just watch and cheer.

As she wrestles and tries to come to terms with these developments, when cruelty can be done but the law is silent, Anna learns of a famous violinist coming to Poland to recruit musicians for a new orchestra in Palestine. He is singling out Jews in order to rescue them, as legitimate travel papers are harder and harder to come by.

The themes of security and what really matters as far as your location are discussed, as in one such instance in chapter 8

"'What is a home?' Baba asked. 'Isn't it just a place where you feel safe?'"

There are some stressful moments of uncertainty as Anna and her family are waiting to relocate, and then we witness what it is like to call a new, foreign place home; not all can make the adjustment and choose familiarity over safety.

This book is based on factual events. I envision this being a helpful introduction for middle-school students, as they will empathize with what it must be like to say goodbye to friends and start over in a place where the language is unfamiliar and difficult to grasp. I can remember when I was teaching watching 14-year-old students encounter a novel depicting events in the Middle East; they were unfamiliar geographically with the setting, but the teenager's experiences drew them in and captivated them, allowing the students to fully engage with the historical lessons they did in their social studies class in a way they couldn't have before.

I appreciated this story, but I admit the execution had me longing for a little more finesse -- the information is clearly conveyed and will help facilitate learning and conversations, but I wanted to be transported away, yet it never drew me in completely.
The Sound of Freedom by Kathy Kacer is a middle-grade novel about a Jewish family in Krakow, Poland in 1936. Life has become increasingly dangerous, as the violence and persecution of Jews increase. Anna is afraid if they don’t escape soon, something really bad will happen. Her father is a talented clarinetist in the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. They hear that Bronislaw Huberman is auditioning Jewish musicians from all over Europe for a new orchestra in Palestine. If her father auditions and is accepted, she and her grandmother can leave Poland with her father for a new life in Palestine. 

Stories of Jews in the Holocaust have fascinated me since I was a kid. The first book about the Holocaust I read was Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, then later A Diary of Anne Frank, and many more.  My interest in the Holocaust is why I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley.

The Sound of Freedom is an introduction to the beginning of the Holocaust for middle-grade students. The story is told through the eyes of Anna, focusing on the growing anti-Semitism she sees going on around her and that eventually happens to her. It is set in 1936, before Germany’s invasion of Poland and as Hitler is rising in power, so the real horrors of the Holocaust have not yet started.

While the story of Anna’s family is fiction, Bronislaw Huberman really was a world-renown violinist and did create the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra to save over a thousand Jews by recruiting them for the newly formed orchestra. Anna’s story is representative of the lives saved by Bronislaw Huberman.

While the story is for middle-grade student, it tells the harsh reality of the what was happening.  Readers will be faced with the problems and issues of the era. Some of the families leave the orchestra to go back to their homeland, and Anna is concerned for their safety and the reader is left to wonder what happened to them. The story also mentions the tensions between the Arabs and the Jewish peoples in Palestine. Anna's family may have escaped Poland, but they are faced with issues in Palestine.

I give the story 4.5 stars. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the time-period. The Sound of Freedom would make an excellent addition to a Holocaust study.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Annick Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.